NEW YORK – The Twins returned home Wednesday pleased with a winning road trip. At the same time, their heads had to be spinning about how it ended.
They lost 9-6 to the Mets following one of their more bizarre half-innings of baseball. They went 4-3 on the trip to Kansas City, Philadelphia and New York, but it ended amid a blizzard of walks that fueled the Mets' six-run fifth inning.
"It essentially just came down to strike-throwing," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "Any time we struggle as a group to throw strikes, that's going to happen."
Righthander Jake Odorizzi, after lasting just two-thirds of an inning on Friday in Philadelphia, found a groove and tossed four hitless innings.
Then the Mets scored six runs on the just two hits, as even NASA's best GPS system would not have helped Twins pitchers locate the plate.
The Twins led 1-0 in the fifth, two innings after Max Kepler's RBI single opened the scoring. Trevor Hildenberger began to warm up, despite Odorizzi throwing a 49-pitch no-hitter. Baldelli said he planned to pinch hit Marwin Gonzalez for Odorizzi if Byron Buxton reached base. Hildenberger would pitch the fifth and then Martin Perez would start the sixth. It's the piggyback role Perez has been in until he can join the rotation as the fifth starter next week.
But Buxton struck out to end the fourth. So Hildenberger sat down, and Odorizzi went back out.
"The National League game does pose problems for that plan," Baldelli said. "Nothing is as clean as it would be in typical American League games so we had to work through that."